On an upper end section of a front wall of a motor vehicle body separating the vehicle interior and the engine compartment from each other, typically, a water box protruding towards the front in traveling direction of the vehicle is fastened. Typically it extends between the spring strut mountings of the motor vehicle body. The water box furthermore serves for the fastening and connection of function components, such as for example the windshield wiper linkage or the windshield wiper motor. The water box is typically located in an intermediate space formed between windshield and engine hood.
In an extension protruding towards the front in traveling direction a panel element commonly described as service panel is arranged on the water box designed of sheet metal, which fills out the remaining gap between water box and engine hood. For service or maintenance purposes, the panel element can be disassembled and removed in order to create an access possibility to the function parts arranged below the water box or on the water box.
To protect against dirt and in particular also against water, which can drain off the windshield, the water box is covered towards the top by a water box covering or by a water deflector. Thus, DE 10 2007 017 427 A1 describes for example a water box covering for a motor vehicle with a groove running in vehicle transverse direction for the lateral discharging of water. For forming a groove in a water box covering, the covering however has to have a certain construction height or it is to be designed suitably thick-walled. In addition to an increased space requirement for the water box covering, the forming of a water groove is accompanied by an increase in weight and by an increase of the manufacturing costs for such coverings.
It is therefore at least one object of the present invention to provide water drainage in the region of the windshield that is improved with respect to the installation space distribution of the motor vehicle, which with regard to production and assembly can be realized particularly easily and preferably cost-neutrally. In addition, other objects, desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent summary and detailed description, and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.